African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1608 Caravan
The colonial approach in East Africa inherited the original strategy of homeland expansion and placed great emphasis on population. While other colonists typically measured their military strength and population in thousands or hundreds in their overseas colonies, East Africa often measured them in tens of thousands.

Apart from small, inaccessible, and resource-poor areas like Dahra Port.

The large population base is the core means for East Africa to firmly control its colonies and overseas territories. Wherever conditions permit, East Africa does not hesitate to make large-scale immigration.

In this respect, only Tsarist Russia and East Africa are similar. However, Tsarist Russia's colonies have basically become its own territory, while East Africa's overseas territories are not suitable for complete localization. Not to mention overseas territories, even Darfur, which is right next to East Africa, has not been formally incorporated into East Africa's territory.

However, there is no doubt about East Africa's painstaking efforts in managing its colonies and overseas territories.

Governor Louis remarked with a sigh, "The so-called colonies in East Africa are fundamentally different from ours. Their overseas colonies are actually just overseas provinces in the name of colonies."

“Tagoreland alone is similar to the three provinces that our country has established in Algeria, or even more so.”

"Algeria at least preserved its local population, while East Africa is extremely 'Germanized' in terms of population, completely aligning itself with the East African mainland."

Algeria was a French colony, but it differed significantly from other French colonies in that France essentially considered Algeria as its own territory and attempted to fully integrate it with mainland France, thereby initially realizing France's goal of becoming a trans-Mediterranean empire.

In this way, the Mediterranean region between Algeria and mainland France would become a complete "inland lake" of France, and by turning Algeria into a "second France," mainland France could also become stronger.

This allowed France to respond more calmly to changes in the world situation and strengthen its control over its overseas colonies.

By the early 20th century, a trend had become increasingly apparent: the problem of colonies turning against their homelands in various colonial empires.

Especially Britain and France, whose home countries are too small, are finding it increasingly difficult to suppress the development of their colonies. This is especially true for Britain, because many of its colonies have gained leverage in negotiations with the home country after so many years of development.

The direct result of this change was that the independence and autonomy of British colonies such as Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand became increasingly stronger.

Countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have effectively become independent nations and are fully capable of participating in international affairs without going through the United Kingdom.

South Africa's situation is somewhat unique, stemming from geopolitical competition between East Africa and Britain. However, East Africa and South Africa have maintained peace for nearly forty years, which has fueled South Africa's growing desire to break free from British control in recent years.

In addition to these white-majority colonies, the trend of non-white-majority colonies such as India breaking away from Britain is also becoming increasingly apparent.

These countries and colonies, which were beyond British control, were themselves closely related to the decline of Britain's power, which was more a reflection of the ebb and flow of power between Britain's homeland and its overseas territories.

France faces similar problems, though not as pronounced as Britain's. Firstly, France's colonies are largely unremarkable, and the gap between them and mainland France remains significant.

Secondly, North and West Africa, where the French colonial center was located, were close to the French mainland, so France could quickly detect any changes and nip any dangers in the bud.

Just like now, unusual activity between Togoland and mainland East Africa was quickly noticed by the French in French Dahomey. If there were indeed actions against France in East Africa, mainland France would not have been completely unaware of the situation.

Governor Louis continued, “The configuration of Togoland in East Africa is exactly the same as that of France in Algeria. Therefore, our neighbor should not be regarded as an ordinary colony, but should be regarded as a province in East Africa.”

"The changes in Togoland over the years have taken place right before our eyes. We are well aware that Togoland, as a single colony, has an overwhelming advantage over all of our surrounding colonies."

"Moreover, Togoland is a strategic pivot of the East African Atlantic Naval Fleet and an important part of its core area of ​​operation. Our Dahomey is actually within the range of the East African Navy's naval guns."

French Dahomey is also located along the Gulf of Guinea coast. While various colonial powers were active around the Gulf of Guinea, there were also independent states like South Germany, as well as indigenous tribes and kingdoms.

However, this does not change the objective fact that East Africa holds a dominant position in the Gulf of Guinea.

In this regard, the British were actually in a more difficult position than the French, since the French colonies in West Africa were a mess. For example, to the north of Dahomey were Upper Volta and Niger, and further north were the three French provinces of Algeria, French Libya, and Tunisia.

This means that even if East Africa blocks the Gulf of Guinea, Dahomey can still communicate with mainland France by land and transport various weapons and resources through the ancient Sahara trade routes.

British colonies did not have such conditions. Although Britain occupied some of the most fertile and best-condition areas in West Africa, its various West African colonies were isolated from each other.

In particular, if the East African navy were to blockade the Gulf of Guinea, it could directly sever the connection between Britain and the British mainland, and the two colonies themselves would be unable to unite for mutual support.

Governor Louis said, "In the Gulf of Guinea, even a world maritime superpower like Britain can only submit to the East African Atlantic Fleet, let alone our naval power, which is no longer comparable to the first echelon."

The first echelon of navies that Louis refers to here refers to the three countries of Great Britain, East Africa, and the United States, which is also the view of the French government.

Britain has always valued the development of the Royal Navy and has a substantial financial foundation. East Africa and the United States are both large countries with abundant naval resources. There are only two countries in the world with the economic size of East Africa and the United States.

Therefore, the French Navy is powerless to keep up with the naval development of these three countries and can only compare itself with the navies of other countries, such as Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Governor Louis said, "France has long lost the military initiative in the Gulf of Guinea. Without the support of a strong navy, the French colonies along the Gulf of Guinea are like lambs to the slaughter when facing East Africa."

"Everyone knows that if East Africa wants to disrupt the original order and balance of West Africa and expand its territory, it is not difficult to do so. However, when faced with such a behemoth country, we can only make concessions at every turn."

"This is only the naval force of East Africa in the Gulf of Guinea, while the land forces of Togoland are enough to suffocate us." "Therefore, we must figure out the various movements in Togoland, as this is related to French interests, and even safety, in regions such as the Holland and America."

……

The French acted swiftly, sending various personnel into Togoland to investigate the situation, including spies, caravans, and other forces that the colonial government could utilize.

In the Togolan colony in East Africa, it wasn't too difficult for people to enter, since the Togolan colonial government encouraged trade with other spheres of influence in the surrounding countries.

Therefore, Togoland has many points of openness to the outside world. In addition, Togoland is the most developed region in West Africa, so its foreign trade is very prosperous and it also plays a certain role as an international transportation hub. For example, trade between Ghana and Dahomey can be transshipped through Togoland.

There is also Natittingo, the "capital" of the Habsburg monarchy, which was previously an important commercial town in northeastern Togoland and one of the important trade routes between the French colonies of Dahomey and Upper Wolter.

Nattigingu easily became a key area for intelligence gathering in the Dahomey colony.

At the end of December, a caravan from the French Dahomey colony slowly entered Nattigingu. Among the caravan was a French intelligence agent named Rubyrolla.

Riding on her camel, Ruby Rola asked Sakuma, the organizer of the caravan, "Mr. Sakuma, does your caravan pass through Natitingu every year?"

Sakuma was a black man and the owner of the caravan, but he dared not be presumptuous in front of Rubilora. Instead, he said somewhat nervously, "Yes, Your Excellency Rubilora, our caravan travels through Natitingu to Upper Volt every year, and even further. We may stop in Natitingu several times a year."

Ruby Lola asked, "When was the last time you stopped in Natitingu?"

After a moment's thought, Sakuma replied, "About three months ago, when we had just transported a batch of supplies to Dori and then made a brief one-day stop in Natitingu on our return journey."

Ruby Lola's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "During this time, did you hear any rumors, such as what changes or major events have occurred in Natittingu or other parts of Togoland?"

Sakuma frowned, his eyebrows furrowed together. He said uncertainly, "Nothing major should happen, but I can't be sure. After all, Natitingu is just a transit point for our caravan, and we usually don't stay here for too long."

Upon hearing this, Ruby Lola said with some dissatisfaction, "As businessmen, shouldn't you be well-informed? Otherwise, even the slightest change could bankrupt you and leave you with nothing."

In response to his doubts, Sakuma quickly explained, "Your Excellency Rubilola, if you were asking about Dahomey and Upper Walter, I might know more about those things, but as for Natittingu and the whole of Togoland, that would be too much for me."

"As businessmen, we do have our own intelligence-gathering channels, but most of it is hearsay, and we can't be sure if a lot of the information is true or false."

"Moreover, Togoland is different from other places. We used to attach great importance to Togoland and have carried out many business activities there."

"But things changed completely after the Germans occupied the area. Starting around the 1920s, East Africa began to expel the local black people, which forced many tribes and villages that we used to deal with to move to other places."

"This change directly led to huge losses for us in the local market. Moreover, for a considerable period of time, East Africa also banned us from entering Togoland, which forced our trade routes to be interrupted and made it impossible for us to do business."

Ruby Lola asked curiously, "Then why do you still need to go through Togoland to get to Upper Walter?"

It was obvious that Rubi Rola was not very familiar with the local situation. As a civil servant, he was different from the French merchants in French Dahomey. If possible, he would never stay in the colony for long and would eventually return to the mainland. Moreover, he had only been working in French Dahomey for a year.

Sakuma said, “Your Excellency, please don’t be impatient. Let me explain slowly. East Africa has indeed not been an easy country to deal with in the past. Togolan, which they ruled, was practically a closed kingdom, and they didn’t treat people like us very well.”

"However, in the early 1930s, the situation changed. East Africa relaxed its policies on Togoland, allowing caravans and merchants to pass through. Of course, it was still impossible to settle there."

"However, even so, the reopening of Togoland is very attractive to people like us. On the one hand, we may be able to find new business opportunities, after all, East Africans are very wealthy and their purchasing power is considerable."

"On the other hand, Togoland's location is the shortest route from Dahomey to Upper Volta and Ghana, which can save a lot of costs for long-distance caravans like ours."

"Of course, there are two other important factors in choosing Togolan: the local security is excellent and the transportation is top-notch."

“What we long-distance caravans fear most is bandits. In the past, many tribes engaged in robbery, but in Togolan, we don’t encounter this problem.”

"Under the strong rule of East Africa, Togoland has become the safest and most accessible region in the area, and we can also obtain some necessary supplies and goods from Togoland, which is beneficial to our business operations."

"For example, we buy back some of the secondhand goods that Togolese people discard at scrap prices, which would fetch a higher price elsewhere. Moreover, Togolese has the best accommodation, drinking water, and entertainment facilities in the region..."

Sakuma went on and on about all the good things about Togoland, which made Rubyrolla feel a little worse. After all, the more excellent Togoland was, the more it highlighted the "dim state" of the French colony.

Togoland was safe, but the French colonies were naturally less so. As Sakuma said before, in other places they might encounter bandits, but in Togoland they could avoid this. And around Togoland, let alone bandits, even tribal conflicts were not uncommon.

At the same time, Togoland's transportation infrastructure development has clearly made it a local transportation hub and commercial center, as merchants also want to take trade routes with better conditions and greater accessibility.

Finally, in terms of other infrastructure and features, Togoland is far ahead of its neighbors, which makes it more attractive to West African merchants.

(End of this chapter)